The agitation against the agriculture bills, which is passed in the Lok Sabha and is tabled in the Rajya Sabha, has peaked as the farmers in Haryana have stepped up their protest against the contentious bills on Sunday.
Haryana state police, as well as the Delhi Police, has intensified the security arrangements as several farmer bodies gave the protest call, stressing that they will block the highways as a part of “Road Roko (block the road)” protest.
“We have planned traffic diversions. Whoever is coming from Delhi, Kurushketra, we have diversion plans for them. We have sufficient security force from headquarters. Most of the personnel have been deployed in Ambala because they plan to go to Delhi from here,” senior police officer Abhishek Jorwal from Ambala told news agency ANI.
Videos of the ongoing agitations have surfaced online showing protesters out on roads as many of them participated in rallies on their tractors.
Many protesters were seen wearing white Kurta pyajamas and chanting slogans against the new bills holding flags and banners.
In the parliament, Farmers’ and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 have been maintained as the bone of contention between the ruling BJP and opposition.
Congress asserted that it will “not sign on the death warrant”. Asserting it as an attack on farmers’ soul, Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa said his party would not sign “death warrant for farmers”.
He further said, “Farmers are not illiterate. They understand that this is a way to do away with MSP. Once this is passed, corporate houses will take over farmlands. He added that trade was how the East India Company and the Portuguese invaded India.
On the contentious Agriculture Bills, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha said that we don’t want a situation similar to that under East India Company.
“You have to decide whether you want to stay in the middle or in the hearts of the farmers. You should think about the farmers. What is it that they want? The farmers look up to you. It shouldn’t be that our situation becomes similar to that under the East India Company,” the MP said.
“The income won’t even survive under these bills, how will you double them? This story won’t be limited to Punjab and Haryana but will extend to BJP. The BJP should consider this,” he added.